


Four Questions

by MissCoppelia



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Groping, Jewish Ben Solo, Jewish Holidays, Pesach | Passover, Singing, Traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-22 21:12:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18535570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissCoppelia/pseuds/MissCoppelia
Summary: It's Rey's first Passover at the Organa-Solo house, which means Ben *still* has to read the Four Questions.





	Four Questions

**Author's Note:**

> Chag Sameach to all my Jew-los out here. Please enjoy this unedited Pesach mess!  
> There are some links at the end of the fic so you can listen to how these songs are sung.  
> The pronunciation of everything in Hebrew is probably not what you expect.

_Ma nishtanah halailah hazeh mikol haleilot?_  
  
It’s Rey’s first time at a Passover seder and Ben is trying so hard to make it something she doesn’t hate. But currently he is singing the Four Questions, and his voice is cracking like mad because the key is way too fucking high in parts, and he’s the one who hates Passover seders. It sucks that there is finally someone younger than he is in attendance and he _still_ cannot get out of the Four Questions.

 _Sheb’khol haleilot anu okhlin hametz umatzah, hametz umatzah - halailah hazeh, halailah hazeh, kuloh matzah - halailah hazeh, halailah hazeh, kuloh matzah_  
  
But that someone currently has her hand on this thigh and is staring at him in the most loving way as he makes his way through this annual rite of awfulness while his mother nods her head along to the words. Rey doesn’t know that he can barely remember the words and he might have gotten a few syllables wrong.

_Sheb’khol haleilot anu okhlin sh’ar y’rakot, sh’ar y’rakot - halailah hazeh, halailah hazeh,  maror maror - halailah hazeh, halailah hazeh, maror maror_

Rey looks a little drunk off the two full cups of wine they’ve had so far. He realizes he should have warned her about how strong Manischewitz is on an empty stomach. Lando and Chewie have done this before so they probably had a light snack before dinner. It doesn’t help that Leia pours full cups and happily repours for anyone who has gotten past half a glass.

 _Sheb’khol haleilot ein anu matbilin afilu pa’am ehat, afilu pa’am ehat - halailah hazeh, halailah hazeh, shtei f’amim - halailah hazeh, halailah hazeh, shtei f’amim_  
  
Ben’s voice cracks again and he feels stupid, like he’s back in middle school and puberty was still crawling through his system. Why does he feel this way every damn year? Is this what it means to feel the suffering of his people? If so, it’s working.  


_Sheb’khol haleilot anu okhlin bein yoshvin uvein m’subin, bein yoshvin uvein m’subin - halailah hazeh, halailah hazeh, kulanu m’subin - halailah hazeh, halailah hazeh, kulanu m’subin_

But as he finishes the last “halailah hazeh,” Ben knows wny this night is different is different from all other nights It’s to feel the guilt of survival, to remember how good they have it now. His feelings become almost too much for one person as his mother and Uncle Luke tell the story of the four sons, then head onto the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

Then Leia gleefully starts to sing Dayenu, slow and then increasing in speed, and Ben starts to come down from his dark thoughts. Rey will be absolutely delighted by the change of pace, so he gets into it too.

_Ilu ilu hotzianu hotzianu mimitzrayim hotziau mimitzrayim dayenu!_

_Da-da-yenu! Da-da-yenu! Da-da-yenu! Dayenu dayenu dayenu!_

_Da-da-yenu! Da-da-yenu! Da-da-yenu! Dayenu dayenu dayenu!_

_Ilu ilu natan lanu natan lanu et hashabbat natan lanu et hashabbat dayenu!_

_Da-da-yenu! Da-da-yenu! Da-da-yenu! Dayenu dayenu dayenu!_

_Da-da-yenu! Da-da-yenu! Da-da-yenu! Dayenu dayenu dayenu!_

_Ilu ilu natan lanu natan lanu et haTorah natan lanu et haTorah dayenu!_

_Da-da-yenu! Da-da-yenu! Da-da-yenu! Dayenu dayenu dayenu!_

_Da-da-yenu! Da-da-yenu! Da-da-yenu! Dayenu dayenu dayenu!_

If there is one thing Ben loves about Passover is how much his family loves to sing the songs. Even his father, Lando, and Chewie know the words by now and have joined in as if it’s a raunchy bar song. They pound the table and Ben cannot help but smile. Rey’s big hazel eyes are sparkling and she claps along with the beat. The song ends with the sound of her laughter as Luke launches into an explanation of how “it would have been enough.”

They wash their hands, say prayers over the bread, the matzah, the maror, and finally they’re making Hillel sandwiches with horseradish and sweet charoset and matzah. Ben’s been watching Rey. She hasn’t said much more than “amen” at the end of every prayer, but he can tell that she’s been drinking in everything and probably has a million questions. She just doesn’t want to interrupt the seder out of respect. He wonders which of the four sons that would make her because no doubt she’s not quite the wise son, but she isn’t wicked, simple, or the one that doesn’t know what to ask either.

“Oh my god this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever eaten,” she says as chews on what is, to his eyes anyway, the biggest Hillel sandwich he’s seen with far too much horseradish. He’s pretty sure she just snapped a single piece of matzah in half instead of taking a small piece and passing it on.

But he can’t blame her. This is the most food they’ve gotten for the past hour.

Han laughs at her as he munches on his own sandwich. “You’ll get used to it, kid.”

Then everyone else at the table is laughing and Ben does too until his mom slips away to grab two hard boiled eggs. Rey eyes him as he shoves the whole egg in his mouth and chews. Luke gets the other one.  
  
“It’s a sign of gratitude that G-d passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared their first born sons,” Leia explains. Luke’s mouth is too full with egg to answer this time.

She turns back to the kitchen to get the matzo ball soup dished out, and Ben goes to help her, only to see Rey come up to help too.

“No, you don’t,” Leia chides her as she grabs a soup bowl and starts ladling. “You’re a guest! Go sit down.”

They’re still going at it, polite as can be, when Ben returns for more soup bowls. Rey’s hands grip the edge of a bowl while his mother’s grasp the other side of it.  
  
“Ben, tell your girlfriend that I won’t let my guests serve the meal.”

“Ben tell your mother that I don’t mind being useful.”

He bites back a chuckle and takes the soup bowl. “I’ll take care of it, sweetheart. Go sit.”

Rey looks disappointed that she can’t help. He knows it’s a compulsion she feels when people are too good to her. Leia knows it too, but his mother is stubborn when it comes to dinner parties and manners. He’ll press the issue when it comes to clearing up the table afterward. By then Leia will be tired enough to give in and accept help. He puts the bowl of soup in front of Rey just as she sits and kisses the top of her head.

Next is the gefilte fish, which Ben only eats because his mother keeps serving it, but of course Rey loves it. All the non-Jewish guests they’ve ever had do, for some inexplicable reason, and Ben can’t help but wonder why that is. She takes a cue from Lando and puts lots of horseradish on to enhance the mildly sweet, fishy flavor. Ben grimaces, but he knows better than to stop Rey from eating something because it will only make her shove it down her throat faster.

Rey uses the rest of the meal to bust out all her lingering questions about the seder. Uncle Luke, the wannabe Torah scholar of the family, is more than happy to rise to the challenge. The two keep going over slices of brisket and kugel, while Lando tells everyone else about his latest travels and Chewie talks cars with Han.

Finally they’re full and his mother catches his eye across the seder table. “Ben, why don’t you take Rey and find the afikomen?”

Ben’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise and immediately he knows Rey is looking at him with excitement and more questions. He, on the other hand, has not searched for the afikomen in over 10 years.

“What’s an aficumin?”

Leia smiles at Rey in that sweet motherly way. “It’s the middle matzah. The one that we broke during the seder. Usually Jewish children go and find it and get a prize.”

Ben stands and offers a hand to Rey, who stands with a huff that indicates just how full she is.  
  
“It’s in the usual spot, kid,” Han says as Ben starts looking around. It’ll be in his dad’s study then.

“Come on,” he tells Rey. “I’ll tell you if you’re getting hot or cold.”

Rey starts out in the living room next to the dining room, not realizing how careful this game can get, and Ben gets a weird feeling of deja vu as he calls out “colder” and “warmer” as she moves about. It’s like all the times he did this as a kid combined and turned into Rey, who is absolutely thrilled by this challenge and not at all embarrassed by the fact that she’s well over 20 years old. She doesn’t care that this is a game for children, she’s just happy to get the experience. His parents would have known she’d love this sort of thing, to be included as if she did grow up with a family like this.  
  
They head down the hallway and Ben lets her open the door to his old room without comment. It’s next to his dad’s study, so he plops down on his old bed and dutifully tells her that she’s getting warmer as she reaches his bed. She gives him a mischievous grin and crawls over him until his arms are around her waist and he’s pulling her into a lazy kiss. She tastes very much like horseradish.

They stay like this a while, just kissing, Ben ignores the horseradish because if anything Rey is his version of charoset. She’s sweet and intoxicating, and Ben could never get enough of her sweet smile. She is a reminder that life is not always bitter, that it’s worth living and loving. Something he sorely needs every day of his life.  
  
Then Rey giggles, because she definitely had at least two more cups of wine with her dinner, and Ben feels a hand at the semi growing in his pants. 

He pulls back and cocks an eyebrow at her. “Getting too hot there, I think. They’ll be expecting us to be back soon.”

“Too bad,” Rey laughs and kisses him once more before pulling herself off him. “Let’s go to the next room.”

She finds it there, sitting on top of his dad’s desk and gets a little disgusted that it was so easy. Rey storms back to the table where Han and Leia have placed a whole basket of Easter candy as her prize, and she’s delighted again in no time at all.

“This is for me?”

“Sure is, kiddo,” Leia says. “You found the afikomen and now we can resume the seder!”

_“There’s more???”_

Ben just laughs. By the time they’re actually done with the last two cups of wine, with the seder, with all the silly Passover songs, he can tell Rey’s tired. He packs up all the leftovers that his mother’s willing to part with, the Easter basket, and Rey into his car before giving his parents one last hug.

“You’re safe to drive?” Leia asks.

“Yeah, only had a half a cup of wine all evening.”  His mother looks aghast at this, as if she’s failed him. “Otherwise you’d have me wasted on the floor like Rey was.”

“Be careful driving home anyway, son,” Han replies with a wicked smirk.

Ben nods. “I will.”

When he slides into the driver’s seat, Rey whispers, “Chad gad yaaaaah, chad gad yah,” and he knows he's going to regret teaching her _that_ song.  


**Author's Note:**

> If you're not familiar with Passover and the songs mentioned in this fic, here are some links.  
> Keep in mind that these links are not necessarily an exact match for what's in the fic. Everyone has their own ways of singing based on the different Jewish cultures they grew up in. My one note is that you have to sing "Chad Gad Ya" in the most annoying voice possible so the adults ask you to stop singing. :)
> 
> [Ma Nishtana](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsWh4YaD3HE)
> 
> [Dayenu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtLKOcFwct4)
> 
> [Chad Gad Ya](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaZuI-WZTe8)


End file.
